Today I'm starting a series where I'm focusing on some of my heroes: People who may or may not be a household name, but they certainly deserve to be. These are people that have inspired me and I can't wait to introduce them to you. Listen To The Podcast: Today, we are talking with Ben Stein, an award-winning teacher and golf coach here in MY town… Des Moines, Iowa. Ben has been a social studies teacher for 16 years. He now teaches at the junior high he attended as a teenager. How cool is that? He has had a huge impact on countless young people, including my two boys. And that's one of the reasons why I wanted to have him on. Ben has an incredible talent for making history live. When he was their teacher, our boys would come home charged up because Mr. Stein had told a great story and got the class talking about it.  As a result, we’d have marathon dinner table conversation. When you look at our history, when you dig into stories of grit, of determination, of collaboration, of healing, of heart, of sticktoitiveness… we can know more of where we came from and who we are. Ben truly wants to help these kids to dream, to think, to do. So let's get to it. Mr. Stein, Ben Stein, welcome to Dream. Think. Do! Thank you for having me. You and I have been friends for years now, but there's a part of me that still wants to call you Mr. Stein, in homage of you being a teacher, and a great one at that. You are too kind. I’m teaching at the school where I grew up, so I have the problem that I still want to call some of my co-workers who were teachers I had by, “Mr., Ms or Mrs.” I love it. We're going to get to some specific stories from history because I think we need to know more about our history right now. Dream. Think Doers are from all around the world. We have listeners from all over Europe, all over Africa - everywhere. So I will say this is a little bit more tip of the hat to U.S. history, but I think these stories are inspiring because they speak to that human spirit.  To grit. We're going to get to that in just a second, but we're going to start with Ben’s story. Did you always want to be a social studies teacher? Is that what you wanted to do or is this something that you found? You know, originally I wanted to play golf. I found out very quickly that I wasn't good enough, so I got my degree in English and then - what do you do with a degree in English? I was going into education to become a teacher, and it was shortly after 9/11. I realized how important it is for us to know who we are. And, as my good friend Oprah tells me - you don't know where you're going unless you know where you are. And as I'm learning more and more of these stories from history, it inspires me to share that with my students, to let them know who they are as Americans and what that means to prepare for the future. That's awesome. One of the things I appreciate is the sort of Socratic method you use in teaching. My boys would come home and mention that you'd share a story but then say, ‘Tim, what do you think of this?’ You would get them talking.  Our boys were fired up because they were engaged. Well, you know, there's a quote in my room which is the theme for the class. It's by Mark Twain, and goes: “History doesn't repeat. It rhymes.” So I start off class with a two minute current event on anything going on and we'll discuss it. It's funny how we can relate that to the same things that were going on 200 years ago, only. It's slightly different. I think that engages the kids because when you're talking about the current events around the world today and then relay that back to the 1700s, I think that's easier for kids to understand. Yeah, absolutely. I'm with you. Let’s dig into it. What are three stories from history that all Americans should know but probably don't? What were some of the stories that come to mind for you? Well George Washington of course comes to mind. To me,

Welcome to Dream. Think. Do. It’s great to be back – we’ve been on hiatus for a couple of weeks making a few changes...and I think you’ll like what we’ve done with the place! Listen To The Podcast: I’ll start off with some exciting news — that actually you are a major part of. We've been digging into the numbers and I discovered we’re in the top five percent of all podcasts! How cool is that? And it’s because of YOU! I know you really do believe in helping people to dream bigger, think better, and do more...do more of the stuff they were put on the planet to do. So thanks for sharing my podcast with your friends and colleagues and spreading the word! I’m grateful for you. I'm grateful that you're listening in today. I'm grateful that you're part of the Dream. Think. Do. movement...and together… we're making an impact by reaching people around the world. I couldn't do it without you. So for today...I'm going to share a term with you and its impact on me, but I'm also going to share some strategies with you that have helped me in big, big ways. I was recently listing to an audiobook from one of my favorite authors, Shawn Achor. It’s called BIG POTENTIAL - a great book with some really good psychological insight. One term that really struck me is what Shawn calls “Posttraumatic Growth”.  PTG basically boils down to A POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGICAL CHANGE EXPERIENCED AS THE RESULT OF ADVERSITY leading to a higher level of functioning. Post-traumatic growth is not about returning to the same life as it was previously experienced before a period of traumatic suffering. Rather, it is about undergoing significant life changing psychological shifts in thinking and relating to the world in a way that contributes to a deep personal process of change. This concept of learning from challenging circumstances isn't necessarily a new idea. In fact, it's interesting — I wasn't preparing for this episode...I was just doing my morning rituals yesterday and was having some quiet time. I was enjoying a cup of coffee, reading, and praying. I was journaling and had picked up where I had left off in the Bible, the New Testament, in the book of Romans. You might be familiar with it, but there I was...I wasn't doing research for the episode. I was just doing my morning thing and I kind of picked up where I had been reading before, but then I came across Romans chapter five specifically. And it said we can rejoice to when we run into problems and trials for we know that they help us to develop endurance — and endurance develops strength of character — and the character strengthens our confidence, hope, and salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. Now that was written a couple thousand years ago. And here, Paul, is basically talking about Posttraumatic growth — a new term to describe something that's obviously been around for centuries, if not since the beginning of time, right? Because we all have challenges, some of us more than others, but it's one of those things that sometimes we're in the thick of it and it can be extra challenging sometimes. I don't know about you, but some seasons in life just seem straight up, more challenging than others. There are those seasons, maybe short, maybe long. And then sometimes...everything's clicking. It seems easy. You can almost coast and everything is smooth sailing. But I have to admit, and I'm guessing since you're a Dream. Think. Doer...you'll get this...because sometimes if I experience  an easy stretch for too long, I almost wonder, “Am I really pushing myself?” Because when we go after dreams, when we go after things that we want to do or experience or achieve, whether we're stretching at work, whether we're stretching at home, whether we're stretching ourselves in relationships, if we're pushing for a dream, if we're going after it to make things happen, there are going to be rough spots, right?